How Did Ancient Population Levels Change in the Southwest?
The latest research indicates that more than 40,000 people lived in the Hohokam region around A.D. 1300. Fewer than 10,000 were living in the same area by the mid-1400s. Remember the Puzzle Piece that focused on evidence for migration? Unexpectedly, this population decline took place during a period when the region was experiencing an influx of immigrants.
|
| These maps reflect the disappearance of the Hohokam as an archaeologically identifiable population. We estimate that several thousand people remained in southern Arizona after A.D. 1450. These people took up lifeways that differed from earlier Hohokam traditions and are not easily identifiable by archaeologists, so it is difficult to place them on maps. Our estimate of population in southern Arizona between 1450 and 1500 is based on projecting back from historical records compiled in the 1690s. |
Key Points:
The Four Corners region was rapidly depopulated during the late 1200s.
Throughout the Southwest, people were living in fewer but larger sites, leaving more space between clusters of sites.
The Hohokam region was gradually depopulated.
This online exhibit was created in partnership with Pueblo Grande Museum, and is made possible by grants from the National Science Foundation.
